BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
Catalyst Game Labs => BattleTech Game Rules Questions => Strategic Operations => Topic started by: Alfaryn on 23 November 2017, 05:36:23
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P. 23 SO, and P. 80 BMM
The rules on dropping troops (or 'Mechs in BMM) say, that if a landing unit violates Stacking limits Unit Displacement happens per rules on p. 151 TW / p. 55 BMM. What is left unclear is which unit gets displaced. Is the landing unit displacing the one that was in the hex earlier (as it is technically the one entering the hex), or the other way around (the landing unit gets displaced, the one, that was already on the ground stays put)?
Also if a displacement happens as a result of a failed landing the rules say, to use the "original target hex" (the one, there lading was supposed to originally take place) to determine the direction of movement for any displacement. Does it mean, that the rules prefer displacement towards, or away from the hex, where the landing was originally supposed to happen? I would guess "away from the the original target hex" if the landing unit displaces the one already on the ground, or "towards the original target hex" if the landing unit is the one displaced, but am not 100% sure of that.
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It uses the standard displacement rules, so the unit that was already in the hex is the one that is displaced.
Edit:
"The direction of the original target hex" is unclear, I admit. I think it means you draw a line from the hex where the dropping unit was supposed to land to the hex it winds up in and use that as the direction of travel for the subsequent displacement resolution (in other words, I think it should say "direction from, not direction of"). I will need to double check this when I get home. I'll make a new reply here when I do so.
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It uses the standard displacement rules, so the unit that was already in the hex is the one that is displaced.
Edit:
"The direction of the original target hex" is unclear, I admit. I think it means you draw a line from the hex where the dropping unit was supposed to land to the hex it winds up in and use that as the direction of travel for the subsequent displacement resolution (in other words, I think it should say "direction from, not direction of"). I will need to double check this when I get home. I'll make a new reply here when I do so.
If that is so, than the rules work as I expected them to, but really could use some editing, both because of the direction from / direction of issue on p. 23 SO and p. 80 BMM you have mentioned, and because all displacement rules (and especially Domino Effect rules on p. 55 BMM, p. 152 TW and p. 55 Introductory Rulebook) seem to be written under assumption, that the unit causing the displacement has entered the hex, where the stacking rules are broken leading to domino effect, from one of the neighbouring hexes, but in case of combat drops there technically is no hex on the ground map, the dropping unit came from.
Extra question: How/when do you determine facing of a dropping unit? When you nominate the hex, where they will try to drop(at the start of the turn), or when you reveal it (at the end of the Movement Phase)? Can this facing change as a result of a failed PSR to check if the unit scatters from it's planned landing spot?
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The ambiguity as to displacement direction is also in the original SO rules, and was just transferred over to the BMM. Use the interpretation I gave above (trace movement direction from the originally intended hex).
As for facing, choose any desired facing upon landing. I'll enter this into the errata doc. Thanks!